Along the Grand River

Every winter we visit the Grand River area of Prince Edward Island to see the birds who frequent the area when cold winds and diminished light are the norm. 

Across the water, the community of Bayside rests along the river, its yellow church, St. Patrick’s, standing proud along the shoreline. It was so windy that day, it was hard to keep the camera steady for a photo.

Meanwhile, in the areas of open water on the river, Goldeneyes were plentiful, the Barrow’s species, with the white teardrop on their faces more numerous than the Common species with the white circle. Also present were Mergansers and Gulls which we see year round.

We made our pilgrimage to St. Patrick’s too, or the bumblebee church as I call it. 

The farmland of Prince County spreads out around the church on both sides of the river.

It is obvious that snow machines were crossing the ice. They won’t be able to do that much longer as the temperatures hover near zero.

I took a picture to capture three trees standing proud in the winter sunlight. The colours, which may be from the camera lens, made a curious addition to the scene.

The tree trunks were almost as colourful!

On the way back around Grand River I saw this head above the guardrail as we drove by. 

We stopped to see these domestic geese by the side of the road along the river. They are accustomed to people and hardly moved when I stopped to photograph them.

Before long the snow will be gone and the Goldeneyes will too. I heard recently that the Barrow’s are an endangered species. I wish them well on their travels the rest of this year!